Jack Del Rio: We didn’t give up and should be proud of that

Hours after he was fired as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jack Del Rio said he understands why he’s out of a job, but that he believes he can take pride in his team.

Del Rio told Channel 4 in Jacksonville that Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver warned him that this was a win-or-else season for him. Del Rio added, however, that he thought his players were continuing to play hard even at 3-8.

“Any time the owner makes a statement like, ‘You better be in the playoffs or else,’ and then you end up starting the year the way we started, it was tough,” Del Rio said. “It’s tough, but we never gave into that. Players have never given into that. I think when you look at the way the team is fighting and competing. I think we really should be proud of that.”

Del Rio said he just learned that Weaver is selling the Jaguars to Shahid Khan.

“I’m a little surprised, really,” Del Rio said. “Whenever I’ve asked Wayne directly, he’s always said to me that he intends to keep the team here and be the owner.”

After finding out today that he’s fired, Del Rio said, he briefly spoke to the Jaguars’ players.

“I told them that they need to continue to do [the] right things,” Del Rio said. “There’s something worthwhile there.”

I love the Jaguars, and I’ve supported Del Rio at times where the fans and media were brutal to him, but it was time for this change. The sooner this happened the sooner the franchise can get turned around. He was too attached to an old offense that he had success with that just doesn’t work in the NFL these days and it was time for him to go. I wish him well and I know he can be a useful asset to any other football organization.

Weaver wanted to sell, he gave Gene Smith the orders to bring the team payroll down to rock bottom to facilitate that. “Rumpled Yes-Man” complied, and Del Rio and the current players on the team are sacrificed for the cause.

Sucks for Jacksonville, because you know that a “Baghadad Bob” moment is not too distant in the future from “Karachi Kahn”.

yeah,we didn’t give up,where are our juice boxes and try hard ribbons,you tell em coach,you and your soon to be unemployed gm built that roster over many years. instead of drafting try hard players how about drafting try hard players with talent…just a thought

Jack, what’s this ‘we’ crap? You can’t tell me that you never gave up when you’re tossing your OC out to the wolves every time something goes wrong for you. That’s almost the definition of having given up- you don’t care enough to own your mess.

I like Del Rio. That said, not taking responsibility for team dicisions and throwing offensive coordinators under the bus seems wrong to me. Seems like the actions of a desperate head coach who’s just givin up on his team if not his hand picked coaches.

“Whenever I’ve asked Wayne directly, he’s always said to me that he intends to keep the team here and be the owner.”

anyone else see what he did there? just by saying that hes insinuating that the team may move.he knew exactly what he was doing when he said that lol.screw it might as well stir the pot as you roll out!

Dont you get tired of hearing the cliches from losing coaches, “we never gave up”, “we continued to play hard”, “I’m proud of our guys”, “we’re heading in the right direction”, “we gave it our all”, etc. ……………….especially after 10 years of losing, LMAO

Del Rio probably deserves the criticism he is getting for how the Jags have played. But I don’t understand how he continues to get ripped for releasing David Garrard when Garrard ended up having back surgery a month later and being unable to play in 2011 anyway.

JDR knows his defense,questionable decisions in clutch situations cost him his first stint as a HC.He was told to delegate the play calling to his OC and DC. New interim HC Mel Tucker has our D at #4 in the league. He’ll know the value of clock management and remaining time outs.Lack of offense has killed them this year.It was time to fire Jack.MoJo and Scobee provide most of the O.

But the truth is that he is not a good head coach or a defensive coordinator. It was Mike Smith previously and now Mel Tucker, who were in charge of some very good defenses. In the offseason Weaver had to tell Del Rio to stop interfering with Tucker’s defense. They added some free agents and the defense goes from #29 to #3 in the league with Tucker in charge.

On gameday Del Rio is one of the worst coaches in the league. Terrible clock management, use of timeouts and awful play challenges. He had a poor record after bye weeks and could rarely win on the road. On the road this team would consistently come out looking flat and unmotivated.

This year has really been a clinic in ineptitude on his part. Even with a rookie QB this team could have been .500 or very close with just some basic JV football clock management and playcalling. The defense has done their part and MJD has done his part to carry the offense when given the opportunity. Del Rio and Koetter (who really needs to go also) kept tripping over their own feet and beating themselves.

It is sad that even after 9 years, Del Rio never really became part of the community and by next year few people will be talking about him at all (good or bad). In comparison to Coughlin who will never be forgotten for his contributions to this franchise and the community. Time for the Jags to move on to bigger and better things.